ANECDOTE, 
267 
you will seldom perceive any thing of awk¬ 
wardness or vulgarity in their behaviour in the 
company of strangers. I have seen an Indian, 
that had lived in the woods from his infancy, 
enter a drawing room in Philadelphia, full of 
ladies, with as much ease and as much genti- 
lity as if he had always lived in the city, and 
merely from having been told, preparatory 
to his entering, the form usually observed on 
such occasions. But the following anecdote 
will put this matter in a stronger point of 
view. 
Our friend Nekig, the Little Otter, had 
been invited to dine with us at the house of 
a gentleman at Detroit, and he came accord- 
ingly, accompanied by his son, a little boy of 
about nine or ten years of age. After dinner 
a variety of fruits were served up, and amongst 
the rest some peaches, a dish of which was 
handed to the young Indian. He helped him* 
self to one with becoming propriety; but ira-* 
mediately afterwards he put the fruit to his 
mouth, and bit a piece out of it. The 
father eyed him with indignation, and spoke 
some words to him in a low voice, which I 
could not understand, but which, on being 
interpreted by one of the company, proved 
to be a warm reprimand for his having been 
so deficient in observation as not to peel his 
peach, as be saw the gentleman opposite to 
